Mars Registax processing
I did a bit of experimenting today to see if I could improve the mars image I posted on the Nov 20. Below is one of the original unprocessed frames from 5 minutes of data at 10 fps, 320×240 format (other than a histogram stretch to brighten it).
I normally setup Registax3 to auto-process with the gradient quality set to 65 or 70%. Below is the result after aligning and stacking.
I then apply the color dispersion adjustment.
As high up as mars now is, it would seem to be unnecessary to do the color dispersion adjustment. I still do it though as Registax always adjust the layers by a pixel or two, and it usually improves the image.
Wavelet filters are adjusted to bring out some detail. In this case the wavelt layer settings were: 1, 35, 30, 20, 1, 1.
Next I used the “re-align with processed” button and unchecked the auto-processing. After realigning, I set the stacking parameters to 50% difference and 50% quality which stacked about 1000 of the best images. It looked a bit noisy so I dropped the wavelet filter to 1, 30, 25, 20, 1, 1. Here is the result:
After some minor contrast, brightness adjustments, cropping, and rotation in Photoshop, here is the final result.
November 22nd, 2005 at 6:31 pm
These are some fantastic shots of the solar system over the past couple of days. Saturn still looks great in spite of being low and Sun look fantastic. Having done a run with it this past weekend I looked at the Coronado filters and scopes.
Oh the money where does it go………
How long does it take to complete processing an image like this?
Keep sharing, it’s great work.
peter
November 23rd, 2005 at 12:37 am
It’s amazing what registax is capable of; I got back into astronomy with nothing more than visual observing in mind, but this makes me want to get a toucam and give it a go just for the fun of it!..not that it won’t take a bit of time, but it IS supposed to be a hobby after all…
November 23rd, 2005 at 10:04 pm
Amazing detail… I’m jealous! I’m getting aperture envy with my little Meade EXT90.
November 23rd, 2005 at 10:24 pm
Peter,
Depends on the computer doing the processing. On my wife’s computer it takes maybe 15 minutes to align, stack, and re-allign 3000 images. On mine it takes 30 to 40. Mars is simple to process as the Registax automated setting does nearly all the work. Also, you can store your wavelet filter settings which generally work for most mars images from the same camera without much tweeking.
Thanks for your comments!
November 24th, 2005 at 6:17 am
Great looking image. I could not determine the Scope and setup. Assume it was a larger apapture CAT >= 11 inch and a 2X or 3X. What camera is used and cappture software. I use K3CCDtools and TuoCam II Pro.
From what I have read, imaging of 640 x 480 is prefered over 320 X 480, but you seem to be getting good results. I am still processing at with Registax 2, mainly since I am familair with it. Can’t comment on V3 steps. Just looked at version 3 yeterday. Time consuming process with my P3 866MH computer system. On average about 3 hours from start to finish. Looking at V3 to speed it up a bit.
I do most of the major brightness, contrast, gamma and rotation in
Registax. Then uses Unsharp Mask in Photoshop v 5.5. Setting between 50 - 90 % at 3 to 5 pixels, depending upon the quailty of image. Less if image in sharp and “in focus”, or seeing condtions have not bluured the images.
Good imaging.
November 24th, 2005 at 9:46 am
John,
Equipment used was Nexstar 11 on an APT wedge, Televue 5X Powermate, Baader UV/IR cut filter, and Phillips Toucam 740K.
I tried the 640×480 format but found it noisy. Come to think of it though, I was using 10 fps. I should maybe give it a try at 5 fps. The 352×288 format worked well (essentially its the same as 640×480 but the image is cropped to the center). It has the advantage that the image scale is the same as 640×480 but the resulting file size is much smaller. It is very difficult to keep the mars image in the field in that format. There is only a small margin between the mars disk and the edge of the frame.
I’ve read that the webcam driver always tries to maintain the specified fps setting and adjusts the compression algorithm to maintain that rate. The higher the compression, the more noise. Newer, faster notebooks than mine can probably handle the higher bandwidth needed for the 640×480 format.